Ratang Bana cares for Alexandra’s vulnerable children amid funding cuts
As funding dries up, one of Alexandra’s most trusted lifelines for vulnerable children is struggling to stay afloat
Ratang Bana, an Alexandra-based NPO, has long served as a lifeline for children affected by poverty and orphanhood.
But the organisation now faces a funding crisis, one that threatens to dismantle the fragile support system it has built for Alexandra’s most vulnerable.
Emphasising its significant role within the community, Ratang Bana’s Idah Rambau said the organisation also gave vital support to children in child-headed and youth-headed households. “We give them food parcels when we have them, and we offer psychosocial support through our various support groups.”
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But the cases they handle are often beyond resolution, and they often require more than just food parcels. Rambau cited one specific case of a youth-headed household with four orphaned children, all without identity documents. She said the eldest, now the sibling carer, had never attended school.
“Over the weekend, they had nowhere to stay. Their mother had been allowed to stay temporarily in Extension 8, but after she passed, the owners wanted their space back. One of our caregivers had to volunteer to take them in.”
In some of the worst cases, Rambau said, young sibling carers were themselves ill. She described a young woman caring for two siblings while battling tuberculosis. “She defaulted on her medication and was admitted. Now she’s pregnant. No one is taking care of them.”
Rambau said Ratang Bana would sometimes receive food parcels from a local church to give to families facing such challenges, but with more than 200 households currently in need, they were forced to rotate support.
The situation worsened after USAID withdrew its funding. “It affected us a lot. We had to reduce staff. It also affected our beneficiaries,” she noted, adding that programmes such as HIV testing, prevention, and youth education, especially the YOLO (You Only Live Once) initiative for 12–15-year-olds, were halted as a result of the funding withdrawal.
DA MP Bridget Masango recently visited the centre and expressed concern. “They employed 135 young men and women but have lost half of them because of the withdrawal of funding by USAID,” she said.
Ratang Bana is one of the few organisations in Alexandra with deep, daily insight into the lived experiences of vulnerable children. But without urgent support, its ability to assist is slipping and with it, the safety net for hundreds of young lives.
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